…Everything seems right.

What up, Venezuela: Part 2

So. Nostalgic sentiments and memories of the many Miss. Venezuelas I met aside, the trip to South America did at least serve a few purposes.

Hell yeah.

Coupled with tours and talks with the award-winning blender Tito Cordrero – only the third master blender in the history of the distillery – and hanging out and making drinks for owner, proprietor and ambassador-at-large Jose Ballesteros, there was a another matter that needed attending to whilst on foreign soil…

A photo shoot had been organized in the almost-opened Martini’s Bistro in the Jirahara hotel where we were staying in Barasquimento. Along with Daniel Baernreuther, the current beverage manager at American Bar at The Savoy, who was showcasing the recently-revised ‘Savoy Daisy’, the two of us made our drinks as part of a photography event organized by DUSA and Diplomatico for their forthcoming cocktail book, which is to be released later this year.

The idea of the book, which came from Alfonso ‘The Host with the Most (The Fonz, for short)’, is to showcase the drinks that have been made with Diplomatico over the last few years years, with references to the bartenders, their current place of work and the reasoning behind the drinks.

With 21st century cocktail books becoming more common these days, from bars like PDT in New York to brands like Diageo releasing drink and cocktail-orientated books – Diageos book, for example, showcased the drinks and challenges from the World Class 2010 final in Athens – the Diplomatic cocktail book is there to pay homage to those on the frontline who have helped bring their style of rum to a wider audience by showcasing the most inventive and intricate drinks that have appeared within the cocktail scene over the last few years.

Such sentiments are rare in the bartending world. Indeed, while some brands use it as a marketing tool to promote and forward their brands, it’s nice to see an independently owned company to pay their respects to those who have worked with brand on consistent, daily basis.

And so with that, this blog, like the last, is dedicated to those who have helped work together to bring the Diplomatico cocktail book from a concept to a literary conclusion.

Emisario

50ml Diplomatico Reserva Exclsuive

15ml Coffee-infused vermouth

10ml Nardini Amaro

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Stir with ice until well mixed and well chilled, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with three cherries on a pick, twist an orange peel over the surface of the drink, and serve.

Coffee-infused Vermouth

125g whole coffee beans

500ml sweet vermouth

Fill a storage jar with coffee beans. Add vermouth until the liquid covers the beans, and store in a cool place for 24 hours. Strain, bottle and refrigerate.

The Emisario. Hells Yeah.

Savoy Daisy

60ml Ruby port

30ml Lemon juice

25ml Diplomatico Exclusiva Reserva

15ml Muscovado sugar

2 barspoons grenadine

2 barspoons Bacardi 8

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Shake, strain into a cocktail glass and serve.

Daniel Baernreuther’s Savoy Daisy.

Like the one before, this post and the drinks are dedicated to those who looked after us during our stay in Venezuela. Sláinte!